Apple iPad Pro 10.5in
A potential laptop-killer, offering all the power of its plus-sized sibling in a much more portable package
At first glance, you might mistake the iPad Pro 10.5in for a regular 9.7in iPad. The design is all but identical, and the size differential is small enough to overlook – although at 6.1mm the iPad Pro is noticeably thinner.
Internally, though, the iPad Pro 10.5in is closer kin to the 12.9in iPad Pro. Both models use Apple’s supercharged A10X Fusion CPU; this helped the 10.5in iPad Pro whizz way ahead of the crowd in our single-core and multi-core benchmarks. And it offers even stronger gaming performance than the 12.9in model, achieving a peerless 58fps in the GFXBench Manhattan test – but that’s just because the screen is smaller, meaning that the GPU has fewer pixels to process.
Battery life benefits slightly as well. While the 10.5in’s battery is physically around 20% smaller than the 12.9in model’s, it gave us 12hrs 59mins of video playback, 41 minutes longer than the larger iPad Pro.
The Pro’s display is no brighter than a standard iPad screen, but that's still brighter than any non-Apple tablet. And it has a much greater contrast ratio than the iPad – 1,504:1, versus 861:1 – plus a laminated screen assembly and anti-reflective coating. It all goes to make the display look and feel extremely bold and solid.
While the 10.5in iPad Pro clearly doesn’t offer as much workspace as the 12.9in model, you still get around 17% more screen area than on the classic 9.7in iPad. The resolution scales up proportionately to 2,224 x 1,668, maintaining the Retina pixel density of 264pp. And if you shell out £159 for the optional 10.5in Smart Keyboard attachment, you'll appreciate that the extra width also allows for slightly larger keys, so it’s more comfortable to type on.
That’s not just a niche consideration. In the past I would have scoffed at the idea of attaching a keyboard to a tablet – why not just use a real computer? But the iPad Pro delivers exceptional performance, excellent app support and, with iOS 11, proper file management. Snap on a keyboard and there’s no reason why it can’t replace a laptop.
Of course, power users will still need something running Windows or macOS, while casual Facebookers will be fine with a much cheaper tablet. Those in the middle, however, now face a real choice: you can spend £675 on a dull, mid-range laptop – or you can spend it on this absolute beauty of a tablet, plus its accompanying keyboard, and enjoy a fantastic screen, excellent battery life and peerless portability.